The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 35

Escape-2

Behind her was a life that tried to break her.

Ahead lay the unknown.

She didn’t look back.

Not once.

+25 Points

The forest had thinned, the trees standing farther apart now, their roots tangled like veins near the surface of the earth. The air itself felt different-lighter, sharper, humming with a warning Iva could not quite name. She felt it in her chest, in the way Avalon’s stride changed.

Without warning, Avalon slowed.

Not stopped-never that-but the wild, liberating sprint eased into a careful, almost silent lope. Her paws placed themselves with deliberate precision, avoiding snapping twigs, skirting patches of dry leaves. The shadows became allies again.

“Why are we slowing down?” Iva asked, her mind still buzzing with adrenaline and the excitement of their first run. “Is something wrong?”

“Everything is right,” Avalon replied, her voice low, focused. “Which is exactly why we must not attract attention. The closer we are to the border, the more sensitive the land becomes. Patrols. Residual pack scents. Old wards. If we can pass unnoticed, we will. Plus we need to do something else… important.”

Iva swallowed, her awareness sharpening. “Okay…”Then adding in confusion, “What something else?”

Avalon hesitated.

The pause alone made Iva’s chest tighten. “What?” she asked, frowning inwardly, her mind racing through every detail-provisions, direction, distance, timing. Had they forgotten something vital?

Avalon finally spoke, her tone quieter, almost solemn.

“We need to free ourselves from the mate bond-if we want even the slightest chance at a possible second-chance mate.”

The words landed like a blow.

“What…?” Iva went utterly still inside her own body. “Free ourselves?”

Avalon continued, gently but firmly, as if she knew this would hurt.

“Now that we have sensed the bond, it will not stay silent. From this moment on, every time Nick touches another she-wolf, every time he shares intimacy, affection, or desire with someone else… we will feel it. The agony of betrayal. Again and again.”

“What?!” Iva’s voice rang in her head, sharp with disbelief and horror. “You’re saying I would feel that? Every time?”

1/3

Escape-2.

+25 Points

“Yes,” Avalon answered softly. “That is the cruelty of a fated bond once it is awakened.”

Iva’s thoughts spiraled. “But-what about chosen mates?”

Avalon replied. “You will still feel the backlash until the original bond is fully severed. With chosen mates, once the marking is complete, the fated bond is broken permanently. Until then… the pain lingers.”

Silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating.

Avalon’s voice dropped even further, almost hesitant.

“Unless… you have changed your mind. Unless you still hope Nick will accept us.

The question pierced deeper than Iva expected.

Images flashed-Nick’s smirk, his laughter, his cruel words, the slap of humiliation in front of others, the lies that nearly destroyed her life.

“No,” Iva said immediately, her resolve hard as steel. “I’ve made my decision. Even if he accepted us now… it wouldn’t erase what he did. The cruelty. The unnecessary torment. He is a future Alpha, Avalon. And his behavior already tells me everything about the kind of leader-and mate-he would be.”

She paused, then added quietly, “We are better without him.”

Avalon exhaled, a sound like relief.

“I agree.”

“But how do we reject him?” Iva asked, confusion creeping back in. “The bond isn’t fully formed. He’s not here. It needs acceptance from what I know, and he never-”

“There is a loophole,” Avalon interrupted gently. “A rare one that not many know about it.”

Iva listened, breath held.

“When you told him we were fated,” Avalon continued, “and he mocked you, denied it, and rejected you publicly-he rejected the bond. Us. That moment matters. It counts.”

Iva’s heart skipped.

“We don’t need to say that we reject him, but we can accept his rejection,” Avalon said. “Right now. Before we cross the border.”

Iva’s pulse thundered. “Why not after?”

“Once we say the words,” Avalon replied, her voice sharpening with certainty, “the rejection will finalize. The pain will hit him suddenly and violently. It will distract him. Distract the Alpha. Distract the entire pack and give us the necessary cover.”

A cold understanding dawned on Iva.

“Even if I was never initiated,” she murmured, “the Alpha would still sense me leaving.”

“Yes,” Avalon confirmed. “But Nick’s pain will mask that moment. It will blur the things. Buy us time.”

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